“If we want to be credible, we have to talk about timing. The European Union must be ready to integrate new members “by 2030”, European Council President Charles Michel urged Monday at a conference in Bled, Slovenia.
“As we prepare the EU’s next strategic agenda, we must set ourselves a clear objective. I believe that we must be ready – on both sides – by 2030 for enlargement,” he told the Bled Strategy Forum. Five Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia), Ukraine and Moldova are candidates for membership. “It’s ambitious, but necessary. This shows that we are serious,” he added during this meeting attended by leaders of the Western Balkan countries.
A “slow” journey
EU enlargement will be at the heart of the discussions of the leaders of the Twenty-Seven at their forthcoming summits. In particular, they will have to decide on the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. The European Commission is due to present its recommendations on this issue in the autumn.
Both countries were granted candidate status in June 2022, months after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Five Western Balkan countries are also candidates and some of them have started negotiations with the EU for more than ten years. Charles Michel acknowledged that “the slow progress towards the EU has disappointed many, both in the region and within the EU”.
Reform before opening up
The next EU-Western Balkans summit will be “backed by the European Council” from December 14 to 15, he announced. He suggested that the new “gradual integration” approach decided by the Twenty-Seven should allow candidate countries to participate in certain European policies such as defense and security once they are deemed ready, even if they are not have not fulfilled all the conditions to be included in the bloc.
Charles Michel also said he “entirely agreed” with French President Emmanuel Macron that the EU needed to reform before the next enlargement. “Integrating new members into our Union will not be easy. This will affect our policies, our programs and their budgets. This will require political reforms, and political courage,” he acknowledged. Turkey is also a candidate country, but membership negotiations were frozen in 2018.